‘SNL’ Ends Season with Will Ferrell as Epstein Haunting Trump in Grim Cold Open

“Saturday Night Live” wasted no time diving into controversy during its Season 51 finale, opening the show with a brutally dark sketch featuring Will Ferrell as the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein haunting Donald Trump inside the Oval Office.

The cold open began with cast member James Austin Johnson portraying President Trump, who drifted off to sleep behind the Resolute Desk before being startled by the arrival of Ferrell’s chained-up Epstein apparition.

Ferrell’s version of the disgraced financier jokingly announced he had returned to visit his “best friend,” while Johnson’s Trump reacted with excitement before complaining about sinking approval numbers.

The sketch leaned heavily into edgy humor, with Trump asking Epstein what heaven was like. Ferrell quickly fired back, “It’s really, really hot.”

Johnson’s Trump then rambled about upcoming plans, including attending The World Cup, hosting bizarre “Patriot Games” for high school students, and staging a UFC fight on the White House lawn “like white trash on Worldstar.”

One of the sketch’s darkest jokes came when the comedian’s portrayal of Trump asked the fictionalized Epstein for a high-five, only for him to respond, “You know what, this time, I’m going to leave you hanging” … a grim reference to Epstein’s death in jail.

The bit escalated with Epstein sharing surreal “visions” of the administration’s future, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem selling products on the Home Shopping Network and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth smoking marijuana during a podcast appearance with FBI Director Kash Patel.

Ferrell’s Epstein eventually turned serious for one final jab, warning Trump that no matter what distractions unfold politically, the public would never stop linking the two together.